Nourish yourself through alone time.

Let us start with the importance of finding some alone time, which I think is at

the core of taking care of yourself.

I am a very social person, but sometimes I come to a place where I am “overpeopled.”

Foster Weekly Alone time as part of your self-care.

It is so important to spend time daily in silence. When I first get up in the morning, I have a morning routine before I even get out of bed where I stretch and twist, and if I can, I go where I can observe the sunrise. This time is my alone time.

When I sit down at my desk, the first thing I do is to write down five things I am grateful for at that moment in time.

Mix your alone time with productivity, relaxation, meditation, or self-reflection.

The more time you spend with yourself and fill your time with intentional productivity, self-care, and love, solitude will change from a generally lonely feeling into a positive time of growth in your life. Foster your “alone time.”

Once you go through the window of lonely to aloneness, you will savor youralone time. You will never be lonely again. I revel in my alone time.

How to Practice Aloneness:

1. Resist the impulse to reach out to someone to fill your time and space.

2. Make sure that your loved ones honor your alone time.

3. Try Journaling what is on your mind. Our heads are so full of thoughts and information, write them down, and let them go. It allows me to start the day on a new page.

4. It is always good to be grateful for what has come before and to make plans to manifest where you want to go. These are great subjects for your journaling.

5. Go out into nature and enjoy the outdoors. If you live in an urban area, you can still walk and take in your surroundings. Find a local park. Use all your senses to enjoy your environment. If you decide to walk with a partner, make an agreement to walk together but not to communicate for a certain part of your walk so that you can “feel” and

enjoy the outdoors.

6. Breathe. Practice breathing in your alone time. Slow your breathing down and take deeper breaths.

7. Ask your body, “how do you feel?” and then be quiet and let your body answer. You must get quiet and “listen” to it. Your alone time is an excellent time to do this.

8. Find something to do each day that is creative. For me, it could be developing more art

characters to visually encourage others to be healthy (my jubilant

broccoli and my triumphant carrot.) Or, for me, it might be cooking a healthy creative dinner. For you, it will be other things. Just set aside time where your creativity can come out to play.

10. Be mindful in your aloneness and stay in the now. Change your thoughts. Change your life. Change the world.

11. You can feel the benefits of aloneness and mindfulness in as little as 15

minutes. Nature restores us mentally and emotionally the same way food and water restore our bodies. Enjoy it often.

I am a health coach. How can I help you? Cherylmhealthmuse@gmail.com